


Safe

by Mierke



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 06:32:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2458337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mierke/pseuds/Mierke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Reavers come, Kaylee and River hide on Serenity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Taste_of_Suburbia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_of_Suburbia/gifts).



Kaylee huddled against Serenity, the press of the hard hull in her back giving her some sense of reality. Her eyes were closed shut even though there was absolute darkness around her. She shivered, the cold metal further cooling down her already chilled body. She tried to focus on her breathing, but kept getting distracted by the worried thoughts filtering through her head. 

Mal. Zoe. Simon. Kaylee couldn't help but wonder how they fared, what they were doing, whether they were safe. Had they arrived on a planet where these kinds of attacks were common, where they had ways to defend themselves, to hide when things got out of hand? She didn't know, and she couldn't not worry. 

Just a few minutes ago, River had been in charge, pushing Kaylee towards the nook where they were currently hiding, telling her that they'd be safe there, that no one would find them. Kaylee doubted hiding was even an option; didn't Reavers just take the entire ship apart? But she knew that if anyone could find them a safe place, River could, so she had followed her unthinkingly. Now the girl was murmuring next to her, shaking even worse than Kaylee was. Kaylee didn't want to imagine what she was thinking; her own thoughts were bad enough.

She heard the screams of Reavers outside and inside Serenity. Silently she cursed herself for taking so long in fixing the cargo bay. The ramp mechanism had broken when the others had left, and Mal had told her to get it fixed by nightfall. It had been such a beautiful day, and dancing in the sun with River had been so tempting. She'd figured she had the rest of the day, why hurry? 

"Not your fault," River murmured.

The Reavers were getting closer. Kaylee grabbed River's hand, wishing she could do more to help her, to distract her somehow. But every sound she'd make could get picked up by the Reavers, and every whisper could be their death sentence. She didn't know what to do, so she just held on. 

Desperate to control her breathing, she tried to focus on a happy memory. She thought back to that morning, not with guilt, but with longing. She remembered the way the sun had felt on her skin, how River had grabbed her hand and pulled her into a crazy dance. There hadn't been any music, but River had started humming a tune and they had laughed while spinning round and round.

Next to her, River's murmuring had stopped, her body stiller now. The moment Kaylee realized, she felt silly for not thinking of it before. Happy thoughts would distract the girl from the thought patterns of the Reavers, and even more than before she forced herself to focus on every little detail.

_Simon gave River a tight hug, still not entirely comfortable with leaving his little sister alone._

He must be so worried now, Kaylee thought. Not knowing whether River was safe, whether the Reavers had gotten to her... River's shivering shook her out of her dark thoughts and into the light.

_River stuck out her tongue at her brother, not even bothering with telling him she'd be fine. Simon came over to Kaylee, giving her a kiss that made her toes tingle. A kiss filled with promises of what was to come when he came home._

_"Be safe," she whispered, and he nodded against her lips._

_She waved goodbye with a smile on her face, the job an easy one that left her mostly unworried and looking forward to the day to come._

_"Remember, Kaylee, the cargo bay!" Mal yelled after her._

_"I will Cap'n!" she answered happily, and turned around to focus on the task at hand. She had already brought up the tools she needed before they said their goodbyes, but as she reached out for them she found them gone, her tool box empty. Bewildered, she looked around, and then spotted a wrench on the ground a few feet from where she stood. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands, still not entirely sure what was happening as she spotted a screwdriver a little way off._

_Now she heard River's giggle, and she realized what was going on._

_"River!" she laughed as she grabbed her tool box and then ran after the girl, following the trail of tools she had left and putting them back in her box one by one. "I need to fix the cargo bay!"_

_"Only a few hours of daylight left," River replied. "Gotta enjoy them while we can."_

_When she finally found River, she was standing in the spray of a small waterfall. As she turned around, Kaylee realized she could still keep an eye on Serenity, and breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't exactly comfortable with leaving the ship by itself, even though it stood at a place where hardly anyone seemed to come._

_"Don't worry about her. She's safe."_

_Kaylee smiled at River, before yelping when the girl dragged her into the water._

_"You're not!" River laughed, and Kaylee sputtered before joining in the laughter. The water was wonderfully cool against her skin, and with difficulty she took her clothes off, leaving them to dry on the side of the water. She turned her head towards the sun, soaking up he warm rays. She loved the Black, but she did miss the sun sometimes._

"She's safe," River whispered, just before footsteps echoed in the ship. 

Kaylee pressed farther into Serenity, not willing to believe that the threat had passed. She didn't know when the screams of the Reavers had gone, had no idea why or how they would have left. The fear was still alive inside of her, and she shivered in the cold. She clamped a hand over River's mouth, just in time to prevent her from crying out.

River tried to push her away, but Kaylee wouldn't let her.

_"We can't be sure,"_ she thought really hard, hoping River could hear her. 

"River? Kaylee?"

There was fear in Simon's voice. Using Kaylee's shock, River twisted out of her grip and ran out of their hiding spot. Kaylee only just managed to suppress the scream that wanted to escape her. She couldn't be sure yet, couldn't know. Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe the voice hadn't been real. Couldn't fear mess with your mind like that?

"Kaylee?" Again, Simon's voice, and this time his soft hands accompanied his words. He touched her arms, wrapped her in a blanket. 

"River said you were cold. Well," he chuckled. "What she said was _There is ice everywhere and the fear can't break it_ , but I figured she said you were cold."

He carried her out of their hiding place, and Kaylee finally let herself believe. She huddled into his body, feeling his warmth seeping in to her, opened her eyes, and saw her family. They were safe.

She was safe.


End file.
